Birthdays, horse camp and visiting

It has been so long since I posted anything so this is a conglomerate of info. First off today is my 40th birthday. People say that life begins at 40, but I am tempted to call them liars, although I know that when I turn 60 I will be lamenting my 40's, so I am choosing to enjoy this milestone. My eyesight is going and I was forced to pick up my new reading glasses on the 3rd, and no matter how much I walk the fronts of my legs still are warbly, but I love the wisdom that has been seeping into my pea brain over the years and I finally feel like I know where I've been and where I am going. God has been so good to me.

Luke turned 9 while we were in Florida so he had to wait to have a party until we got back. He had a sleepover with 4 of his church friends, so we had a house full of boys, and somehow I still prefer a house full of messy, loud, wild boys over a house full of girls. Luke is by far our funniest child, he keeps us on our toes and in stitches all the time. He has noticed that Austin is getting too "cool" and so he decided on his own to keep him humble. We were all at Walmart the other day and as we would pass people Luke would holler out. "This is my big brother everybody, this is my brother Austin." We all laughed, even our all too cool 12 almost 13 yr old.

My friend Crista came to visit with her mom. Crista and I were friends when we were little girls because our mothers were best friends. I have seen her a couple of times in the last 20 years, but this time she got to come and spend the day with us. She brought 2 of her 3 kids, and our kids had a splendid time together. It was so fun catching up, but the time was too short. I hope we can do it again sooner rather than later.

Dania did a week of horse camp. It was 3 hours a day for one week. This was loads of enjoyment for her and a time of growth. She is a little bit of a chicken about almost anything new, and some times she is a downright wildcat about it. This experience made her nervous but everyday she pushed through it. When school starts she and I are going to continue taking lessons for a while, it will be something for the 2 of us to do together.

For the 4th we went to visit the Kissacks in Alabama. This was Dania's first trip to the cousins house and she was very excited. Lyra and her had a great time together, even though there is a 3 yr age difference. They slept on the floor in Lyra's room and spent lots of time being mommy to the baby. The men did their thing, while Tonya and I caught up on conversations that were long overdue. We pack a lot of deep stuff in all in a short amount of time. There was lots for me to think about as she always has some good insight into my life. The boys had a blast playing poker, they did not ask to play games or watch TV, it was so nice. Hopefully, none of them will want to be professional poker players when they grow up.